


A Melody of His Memories

by Lunarium



Series: SSSS: Saga of the Mages (aka Mageverse) [1]
Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Dreamscapes, First Meetings, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 04:05:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7027810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Days since his Luonto returned, Lalli is still feeling lonely and unappreciated, but by chance he meets a new friend in the dreamworld.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Melody of His Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the SSSS 100 Prompt Challenge: 67. Playing the Melody

Lalli glanced around him, more vigilant than the last time he had attempted this. Onni would be awaiting his call this time, but the memory of the tendrils around his ankles were still too near for him to be comfortable trying again. 

From this distance he could just make out the Haven of the Icelandic mage. It stood, as sunny as the insufferable man himself, though the outside was obscured by fog as its inhabitant was currently awake. A low growl escaped Lalli’s lips. Reynir would be as helpful to him today as he was the first time he had seen the mage crossing the water—that is, not helpful at all. Not when he seemed so utterly useless with his magic, or unwilling to use it to help the team. Lalli would have kick Reynir right this moment for having walked away when he needed him, but—if Lalli had to be honest with himself—he was equally angry at himself, angry that he had allowed his own heart to swell with the excited thought of meeting a potential companion the first time he had laid eyes on him. 

As the bitter confession filled his mind, a rock rose above the surface of the dream-water beside him, then another. Confusion replaced his contemplation as he watched a path merge inside his own Haven, leading him out. He gave a tentative step, peering through the mist. The road winded well away from the direction of Onni’s Haven, and he was about to turn back when the music reached him: a tune, played on a kantele, with a song capturing a melody of his memories. 

A rush of awe, the same emotions that ran through him the first time he beheld Reynir, filled him in that moment, immediately seizing his heart and mind. He shot a dirty look at Reynir’s unoccupied Haven before clambering up the rocks. They led him up hard stone precipice, the surface smooth and liquid-black. Two steps in, he found himself suddenly in a vast library with shelves so high his neck cricked as he peered about himself. 

The music carried on, the owner of the voice lovely. 

Lalli remembered this tune from his childhood, and he sang along as he traced the source of the music. It took him up staircases bathed in the orange glow of the stained windows from the peaceful light shining through. Shelves of books graced the tall walls, and more shelves stood on the wide landing with books in perfect, untouched condition. 

And there, settled atop a desk by a large window looking out, was the singer. 

A man, a Finnish mage like himself, sitting so perfectly still as he sang, his eyes poised out the window as his long delicate fingers playing the kantele with an expertise that rivaled Onni. He was much older than Lalli, with wrinkles under his eyes, yet from his profile Lalli could see he was extremely handsome. 

Lalli stood transfixed. Had he been back on the dream-water, this would have made him vulnerable for another attack. But here was safe, the ground beneath unlikely to give away anytime soon. No monsters were about; just shelves of books, him, and a mage older, healthier, and more experienced. 

The song concluded with a final resonating note. The mage’s eyes closed for a moment as he moved away from the window, taking in the transition to silence. When he opened his eyes again, they fell right on Lalli. 

His smile was contagious. After settling the kantele aside, he threw out his arms in warm welcome, his eyes shining bright, curtained by long, smooth and straight wheat-colored hair. 

“Well, then! Hello!” he said. “I see my song has drawn in a curious soul!” 

“I didn’t mean to trespass,” Lalli said, hoping he had not committed a violation. He wasn’t rude like that Reynir, barging into other mage’s Havens. This mage’s own Haven had opened up right below his feet. He was invited in. 

“Oh, no! I am forever glad to receive visitors, especially mages like myself!” the mage said. “It makes things not so lonely, see. Like this song, which I carried from my beautiful home back in Saimaa, before…well…” 

Lalli’s heart clenched, leaning forward and grasping the back of one of the desk chairs. “That’s where I was born! But you must be near me if we can communicate. Or very powerful.” 

The mage’s laugh rang in the empty library. “You flatter me! I am in Denmark right now, just as yourself, I presume.” 

“What brought you here?” 

“Doing an expedition of my own, you could say.” The mage’s smile was sad. “Wish I could say the journey has been joyous for myself, but it hasn’t: a land not like my home in the slightest, a language I have difficulty grasping, among a company who don’t quite…understand nor respect my personal needs.” 

“Lonely.” Lalli nodded, fondness and sympathy growing for the other mage with each word.

The mage shot him a look. “Seems I am not alone in feeling lonely.” 

Lalli shook his head. Somehow, there didn’t seem to be a need to keep back that information from him. “This is your Haven?” he asked, waving his arms to no where in particular. 

“I wish! I am merely visiting a place in my dreams: The Royal Library, in Copenhagen.”

“Copenhagen…” Lalli frowned. The word sat faintly familiar in his mind. “We passed there already, I think. Are you there now?”

“No, but I am heading there when I wake up.”

“I wonder if I have…” His mind reeled with images of the place they had rummaged through about a week back: an explosion, jumping out of a second story window…it could not have been the same place. They were not yet in Copenhagen, he didn’t think. And this place was far grander in every way. 

The mage smiled. “Need a map, my friend?” 

Lalli’s pride prevented him from responding truthfully, but the mage had already produced a map with a wave of his hand and laid it out flat before Lalli on the desk. He watched Lalli with interest as Lalli studied the map meticulously, tracing around the vast library.

As the roads drew familiar to him, his heart sank. He had led the expedition team right past The Royal Library, having them drive through the bridge above the Port of Copenhagen and then turn left and away by some three hundred and twenty meters. 

“ _Damn._ ”

The mage cocked one eyebrow. “You do not seem pleased.”

“We’re supposed to be looking for these things,” Lalli said, motioning to a stack of books nearby. “If they find out I missed this…” Flashes of disappointed faces stirred poison coiling in his stomach. 

“Ah.” The mage nodded his head. “I understand. An overbearing captain?” 

“Yes.” 

“Unappreciative teammates?” 

“Tell me about it.” 

_But I can make up for it_ , Lalli thought. He could go back, somehow. The looks on their faces when he returned with enough books to fill a hundred or thousand tanks with them. His eyes glanced up, taking in the pristine covers, the books well-preserved over time, and imagined their faces, the praises, the handshakes and the rewards and awards, and standing alone proudly, his nose up high as Reynir looked up in dumb astonishment or Tuuri watched in amazement, realizing she no longer needed to baby him along. 

“They say The Royal Library was one of the largest libraries ever known to man,” the mage said. “Perhaps it is _the_ largest now in the Known World. There are only a couple resources I need, written in our mother tongue. Looking for them in my dream hasn’t been helpful.” 

Lalli’s eyes returned to the map, still thinking of the praise he would receive when the others knew he had uncovered the greatest and largest collection of books. 

“There are many we need there,” Lalli said. Would he share? What harm would giving up simply one or two or three books be? The rest would go to him, and there would still be plenty of books to mark him a hero in the Known World. 

The mage was watching Lalli with a small smile, his head tilted to one side. 

“You look like you’ve just seen a whole land of gold,” he said slowly. 

“I must return there, but I cannot tell them to turn back. They’re planning on going south.” 

“You can join me. I, ah, believe we may be very close to each other right now. Just meet me at my camp and I will take you. Your captain might be a little angry with you, but considering the gain, it may be worth it. You may be away for a few days, unless if we hurry. I know a few tricks to get there instantly.” He leaned down and with one careful finger pointed to a spot on the map. “I am…right over here.” 

“You’re so near!” Lalli gasped, bewildered. 

The mage’s eyes widened for a moment before the warm smile returned. “So it is! You seem taken aback.” 

“No,” Lalli said. “It’s just that…” He hesitated, not wanting to confess that he was secretly hoping they would be able to meet, would be this close. A chance for a companion… “That is where I will be scouting next,” Lalli said. “That’s in the direction we’re going.” 

The mage’s smile reached his ears. “It seems fate favors us.”

It was hard not to return his smile, if within Lalli’s own mind; Lalli didn’t wish for the mage to think him odd if he showed too much excitement. He nodded his agreement. 

“Excellent! I will await meeting you—ah, name? I’m afraid I never had the honor of learning it.” 

“Lalli Hotakainen,” Lalli said. For the first time, introducing himself, extending out his hand to clasp the other man’s in a handshake, a sense of pride rushed through his veins. It was difficult not to smile now. 

“Pleasure meeting you, Lalli,” the man said. “My name is Valttu.” 

“Valttu,” Lalli repeated. “No last name?” 

Valttu chuckled. “You will learn that in person.” 

“I see.” Lalli nodded. “I get it. Leaving a little something to be discovered later on.” Still smiling, he made to return to his own Haven. As he reached the stairs, he glanced over his shoulder to make certain that Valttu was real, that he had made a friend, a companion, that which Reynir could not become (he had already blown his one chance.) His smiling growing wider till it hurt his face, Lalli sprinted off, and so did not see the red glint that flashed through Valttu’s eyes.

*

Valttu cupped his left hand as the stigma within the palm burned and bled. The cursed mark was his punishment, placed on him by Taika Hotakainen when she had encountered him one day uninvited in her home with his hand grasped around her daughter’s neck.

“So this is your son, Aina?” Valttu the kade muttered under his breath, nodding slowly, one corner of his lips curled despite the pain of the mark. Pale fingers curled into the pooling blood. “Takes after you in many ways.”

It was easy to addle Lalli’s mind with merely one kantele song. Even if the young mage had heard the name of Valttu before, even if Aina used to scream out his name in her nightmares, he had no recognition of it. 

Blood trickled between creases of pale fingers, and Valttu envisioned it was Lalli’s blood. The fear in his eyes the same as his mother’s once were. They must have seen it coming, must have known the day would one day come. It would have been mercy if one of them had shot Lalli in the head before Valttu had discovered his whereabouts, for now he had no one to protect him.

One line of blood dribbled past his wrist. 

“It will be my uttermost pleasure to properly meet your son at last, dearest Aina…”

*

Lalli kept his silence and distance from the other members when he awoke. They would come to appreciate him soon enough. Seeing Emil approach, still holding on to that grudge from the day before, he slipped out of sight; he had no time to get into a kerfuffle over that incident. Rushing past, he elbowed Reynir aside, who had been muttering with hands clasped near his chin, perhaps trying to pray to his gods. His eyes shone brightly when he saw Lalli, unaffected by having just been assaulted, but Lalli didn’t wish to hear it, didn’t wish to have his annoying voice ringing in his head.

One cold, hard look was enough to render Reynir into wide-eyed silence. 

He dodged clear of Tuuri, yelling out that he memorized where he was to go. She shouted something about Onni, but he did not wait to listen more, lest Emil hunted him down or Sigrun interjected with more of that blabber he could never discern, or Mikkel offered him from the leftover dinner that’ll only make him hurl ten paces into his scouting. 

He was out, fully suited in his scouting gear, and his heart hammering with the anticipation of meeting Valttu. His job, his skills, and his worth would no longer be questioned. He will be appreciated and respected and rewarded. At long last, he would no longer have to wallow, rendered mute and without any means of communicating, with one failed friendship after another. There was someone who understood. Someone who will help him achieve greatness. 

Somewhere in the looming forest was his friend.

**Author's Note:**

> The name of Lalli’s grandmother, Taika Hotakainen, comes from [Elleth](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Elleth/)’s headcanons. I really like some of the names she’s given the nameless characters in SSSS, and with her permission I’ll be using some of them, mainly Taika in my works. :) The personalities of our Taikas may be different, though! 
> 
> Also: ah! Valttu the kade! :( One of the mage OCs I have for this canon! I don't know if this will be in the same 'verse as my other fic ([Breathe For Me](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6977722), which is set 50 years after canon.) It was inspired by how Lalli is currently feeling alone and unappreciated in his team, which I think places him in a very vulnerable position, especially for a kade to step in and control his mind. Poor Lalli. I seem to enjoy whumping him.


End file.
